Thursday, June 3, 2010

Mrs. Nutz: "I'm having a lot of leg pain. Can your doctor find out what's wrong, and fix it?"

Mary: "Well, he'll do his best, I mean, he'll need to evaluate you and..."

Mrs. Nutz: 'I'm leaving on a vacation this Sunday, and I need this problem fixed by then. Otherwise it will ruin my trip. Is he going to be able to do that?"

Mary: "Well, like I said, he hasn't even seen you yet, so it's hard to..."

Mrs. Nutz: "Well I need it fixed. This is ridiculous."

Mary: "Okay, how about I get you scheduled? What's your insurance?"

Mrs. Nutz: "I have a very high deductible, so I'll be paying all of this out of pocket. How much is it?"

Mary: "Well the appointment is $300, but if you need tests done it..."

Mrs Nutz: "$300!!! That's insane! Okay, I'll bite. But I will only pay it if your doctor can guarantee, in writing, that I will be figured out and completely fixed before I leave on my trip. Otherwise I want my money back."

Mary: "We can't do that. I won't schedule you under such a condition. I don't know any doctor who will see you like that."

Having just spent the week researching Mesmer, I have to admit, we in the medical profession have definitely lost touch, in our race for scientific accuracy, with our mumbo-jumbo, placebo-effect inducing side.

Mesmer would have fixed that lady. In time for her vacation. Or, at least, he would have been convinced that he had fixed her.

I'm sure you're counting your blessings that particular patient did NOT schedule with you. Catering to unreasonable patients creates an incentive for more and more unreasonable patients to flock to you. Life's too short for that type of practice. :)

Hmmm....maybe I'm getting jaded, but as soon as I read "leg pain" and "pay myself" I thought "seeker." Combined with the demand that her problem be fixed before she leaves on vacation, I predict she would have called at some point and demanded a replacement for her medication that she convenient "lost."

Where is Nurse K when you need her? :)

(ha! WV is "rante"...what she will do in Paris about American doctors LOL)

This is going to be the problem when nationalized medicine takes effect. People have no idea how much things really cost--an appointment with a specialist costs $300, you just aren't the one PAYING for it!!!!!! If she had had insurance, she would probably not have cared how many visits she made or how many tests she needed....just consume and consume!

Sounds like a good friend of mine...She has severe back pain but wont see a doctor cause they cant fix it right away, so she just suffers, makes no sense to me...she gets mad cause the doctor will offer something for the pain til they figure out the problem and she flats out tells them no, she doesnt want the pain masked, she wants it gone....3 years later and she's still suffering

I've realized I went to the wrong school--should've gone to the Hogwart's School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

I frequently cannot fix X years of Y pain in one urgent care visit. Not uncommonly, though, I think I can--often things like physical therapy. People often don't like the idea that they have to put in some work to get themselves better. Sign.

this apparently isn't an uncommon occurance. Seeing my neuro the other day, a woman was refusing to prepay for her appt (cash only patient) until they promised her the problem would be fixed completely.

She then got furious that they took me back first (even though my appt was before hers, she signed in before me)

Welcome to my whining!

This blog is entirely for entertainment purposes. All posts about patients may be fictional, or be my experience, or were submitted by a reader, or any combination of the above. Factual statements may or may not be accurate.

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